July 16, 2012 (Can the DoJ keep broadband competitive?)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JULY 16, 2012

Forum on Future of Wireless Band Plans today http://benton.org/calendar/2012-07-16/

BROADBAND/INTERNET
   Can the DoJ keep broadband competitive? - analysis
   Supporting Internet Freedom - analysis
   Tax Break Nears End For Online Shoppers
   Taxing online purchases - editorial
   Broadband Deployment Getting a Boost in San Diego [links to web]
   Cybersecurity compromise still uncertain

PRIVACY
   The Way the Digital Cookie Crumbles - editorial
   Reps Barton, Markey: Facebook avoiding details on children joining social site
   Surveillance Tools at Issue in Lawsuit

UNIVERSAL SERVICE
D.C. Circuit Court Upholds Key Universal Service Fund Order - press release
Mapping the Mobility Fund Phase I Auction

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Record Spending Likely as Obama, Romney Ramp Up Courtship of Latinos
   App lets candidates raise mobile money
   Latest Word on the Trail? I Take It Back
   Romney to mingle with tech execs on California fundraising swing [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Aereo Win Could Be a Turning Point for Online Video - analysis
   Viewers likely to see more pay-TV, programmer fights
   TV channel blackouts becoming more common as profits stall
   Numbers Justify Station Retransmission Hikes - editorial [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Microsoft and NBC Complete Web Divorce
   Concessions Entangle Universal’s Bid for EMI
   Tribune Bankruptcy Exit Plan Gets OK

INVESTMENT
Telecom Giants Top List Of Companies Investing In US

JOURNALISM
   YouTube and the News - research
   Latest Word on the Trail? I Take It Back
   Chicago Tribune stops using content from Journatic

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Five Ways Wireless Carriers Could Rein In The Government's Surveillance Of Your Phone - analysis
Surveillance Tools at Issue in Lawsuit

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Apple: Leaving EPEAT a mistake, products back on green registry
Feds rethinking buying Apple products [links to web]

AGENDA
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for August Open Meeting

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   EU Plans Broadband Push
   ITU to Release Telecom Draft; Some Critics Underwhelmed
   Why are mobile networks dropping like flies? - analysis
   Concessions Entangle Universal’s Bid for EMI
   Chávez's War on the Media - editorial

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BROADBAND/INTERNET

CAN DOJ KEEP BROADBAND COMPETITIVE?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] Verizon’s expanding its fiber-to-the-home empire has goaded the cable companies to constantly boost their broadband speeds, but if the Verizon-SpectrumCo deal gets approved that competitive dynamic disappears. It also means cable companies might not sign partnerships with smaller, or hungrier wireless companies such as T-Mobile or Sprint. So far, the idea is that the Department of Justice and/or the Federal Communications Commission could put some conditions on the deal’s joint-operating entity (JOE) to prevent collusion among the cable companies and Verizon as well as try to extract concessions related to guaranteed speed improvements, but those conditions would then require dogged enforcement and only last so long. If there is any doubt in the regulators’ minds that this deal is primarily about airwaves, they should put the kibosh on the marketing and joint operating entity associated with the deal and watch the cable companies renege on the deal. Nationwide licenses with 20 to 30 MHz of spectrum for $4 billion is pretty cheap. My hunch is if the marketing agreements and JOE were killed, we’d see the cable companies try to back out and get the true value of those airwaves.
benton.org/node/129399 | GigaOm
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SUPPORTING INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Like you, perhaps, Headlines took some time off to celebrate Independence Day. But in the age of the Internet, the world doesn’t stop for holidays anymore, does it? No, especially when there’s the Internet’s freedom to protect. The Hill reported that “Internet Freedom” has become a hot cause in Washington. Advocacy groups and politicians from across the political spectrum have taken up “Internet freedom” as their rallying cry. On July 2, our good friends Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation and Craig Aaron of Free Press wrote a piece for Slate announcing the Declaration of Internet Freedom. With a full third of the world’s population now online, they point out, and as the importance of the Internet as a platform for participation and expression increases, it’s all the more vital that we keep it open and free from censorship, surveillance, and discrimination.
http://benton.org/node/129330
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TAX BREAK NEARS END
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Monica Langley]
Republican governors, eager for new revenue to ease budget strains, are dropping their longtime opposition to imposing sales taxes on online purchases, a significant political shift that could soon bring an end to tax-free sales on the Internet. Conservative governors, joining their Democratic counterparts, have been making deals with online retail giant Amazon to collect state sales taxes. The movement picked up an important ally when Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) -- widely mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate -- recently reached an agreement under which Amazon would collect sales taxes on his state's online purchases in exchange for locating distribution facilities there. The move toward taxing online sales has broad implications. Online shopping will become more expensive for consumers. Brick-and-mortar retailers won't have the price disadvantage they now have compared with online sellers. Strapped states suddenly could be flush with $23 billion in new annual revenue, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
benton.org/node/129497 | Wall Street Journal
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TAXING ONLINE PURCHASES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] An increasingly number of states have passed laws that require customers to pay sales tax on Internet purchases. The change is overdue. There’s no reason to favor e-commerce at the expense of other business, and it makes no sense to require some businesses to charge more for the same goods. To that end, a bipartisan bill under consideration in the Senate, the Marketplace Fairness Act, would grant states the authority to require “remote sellers” to collect sales tax in exactly the same way as local businesses are already made to do. Of course, that’s much more difficult than it sounds, and critics are right to point out that two Supreme Court rulings have warned of the complications that will inevitably arise in any attempt by retailers to collect sales tax from multiple states at once. The Marketplace Fairness Act may be imperfect, but the price of maintaining the status quo is too high. For the sake of state coffers and local businesses, Congress should approve it — and states should adopt it in due course.
benton.org/node/129496 | Washington Post
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CYBERSECURITY COMPROMISE?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
With the August recess nearly three weeks away, it will be difficult for the Senate to move forward on cybersecurity legislation -- but don’t count it out just yet. Some are holding out for progress to be made on a compromise framework drafted by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on provisions dealing with critical infrastructure, such as water systems and telecommunications networks. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce met with Kyl and his staff this past week to discuss the latest version of the framework. The Chamber may not be saying much, but some see that as a good thing. The business lobby opposed an earlier draft of the compromise proposal circulated last month, but so far has not spoken out against the latest version of the framework.
benton.org/node/129470 | Hill, The
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PRIVACY

COOKIES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] For a measure of how technology is changing human expectations, consider the "cookies" on your computers. These invisible text files are how websites track activity, delivering to marketers detailed information about individual behavior and preferences. In exchange for data, we get highly personalized online services. This use of cookies fuels the economics of the Web, but it has also caused anxiety as people have had to reconsider analog-era expectations of privacy to embrace digital-era benefits of sharing data. If regulators and lawyers push too hard to limit the use of cookie data, advertising online will become less efficient. This in turn will reduce the amount of free, advertising-supported services enjoyed by consumers, such as social media, entertainment and email. Consumers seem to understand there's no such thing as a free lunch, even online: If they are not paying for a product, then for better or worse, they are the product. Each consumer should be able to decide how to make this trade-off between sharing data and getting advertising-supported services. The privacy debate shows how naive Silicon Valley firms were to sign 20-year agreements granting Washington regulators broad authority over how they operate. Digital entrepreneurs should be allowed to innovate freely, with consumers also free to choose their individual trade-off between how their data are used and the benefits they get in return. Overregulation is the way the digital cookie crumbles.
benton.org/node/129493 | Wall Street Journal
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FACEBOOK PRIVACY RESPONSE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) on said Facebook did not respond to their questions in a recent letter about how the company would manage its social networking website if children were allowed to join. The two lawmakers fired off a letter to Facebook last month after it was reported that the social networking site was considering plans to allow children to register to use it. The letter included a series of questions about how Facebook intends to protect young users’ information. While Facebook described how it complied with existing online child privacy legislation in its response, the two privacy hawks said it skirted questions about what type of information it would collect from young users and whether it would serve up advertisements targeted toward them. In a letter sent to the two lawmakers last month, Facebook said the company hasn’t made a final decision about whether it would permit children under 13 to join the site but would discuss its plans with the lawmakers if that changed.
benton.org/node/129471 | Hill, The | Politico
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UNIVERSAL SERVICE

COURT UPHOLDS USF ORDER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
I am pleased that the court of appeals upheld the FCC’s ruling, an important victory for our universal service reforms. The Commission’s once-in-a-generation overhaul of the universal service fund created the Connect America Fund to deliver broadband access to unserved rural communities, which lack access to the benefits of broadband, including jobs, opportunities for small businesses, better education and quality healthcare. Funding previously relinquished by some carriers has been used as a fiscally responsible down payment on those reforms. The Court’s opinion ensures that the FCC will continue to be able to use funds on hand to rapidly implement the Connect America Fund and spur billions of dollars in private investment, without increasing contributions paid by consumers and businesses.
benton.org/node/129466 | Federal Communications Commission | Broadcasting&Cable | National Journal
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MAPPING THE MOBILITY FUND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Michael Byrne]
The Federal Communications Commission is rolling out new mapping tools for the upcoming auction of Mobility Fund Phase I universal service support. The electronic application to participate in this auction displays maps, based on certain information entered in the application, of areas eligible for Mobility Fund Phase I support. Applicants will be able to filter their selections, distinguish between Tribal and non-Tribal areas, and view eligible areas in geographic detail. Another new use of mapping in the auction process will be implemented in the bidding portion of the FCC Auction System. In the Mobility Fund Phase I auction, bidders will place bids for support on discrete areas know as census blocks (the same unit of measure the US Census Bureau uses for counting people). In this particular auction, the bidders know the full list of the blocks eligible for bidding. The FCC Auction System’s new mapping features allow bidders to visualize their bidding options.
benton.org/node/129462 | Federal Communications Commission
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

POLITICAL ADS AND LATINOS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Cotton Delo]
Latino voters are becoming more desirable with each election as their ranks swell, and the presidential candidates are hitting them early and often this campaign season and will likely break spending records. The Obama campaign and allied advertisers are already spending heavily to woo them. And while observers say Mitt Romney is unlikely to win the Hispanic vote, the campaign can better its chances of overall victory simply by cutting into President Barack Obama's vote count within the population. The amounts being spent are unprecedented in light of the fact that just $5.7 million total was put down on Hispanic media in the 2008 general election, according to Kantar Media. Meanwhile, the Romney camp has spent a fraction of the total Obama sum for Spanish-language TV to date -- or roughly $200,000, according to a source who tracks media buys -- but nothing in Florida since the GOP primaries. However, he's dipped a toe into some markets with the heavy Latino populations, making buys in Raleigh (NC), and Cleveland.
benton.org/node/129403 | AdAge
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MOBILE MONEY APP FOR CANDIDATES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Mobile payment application Square unveiled a feature to allow candidates and political organizations to accept donations through iPhones and other mobile devices. Once campaign workers plug in Square's card reader into the headphone jack of their smartphone or tablet, they will be able to swipe people's credit cards to accept donations on the street or from campaigning door to door. The app, already popular in food carts, coffee shops and other stores around the country, will make it easier for campaigns to accept donations in the field, without having to deal with forms and clipboards. Square set up special apps earlier this year for the campaigns of President Obama and Mitt Romney, but the system had not been previously available to other candidates and causes.
benton.org/node/129402 | Hill, The
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LATEST WORD ON THE TRAIL – I TAKE IT BACK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters]
The quotations come back redacted, stripped of colorful metaphors, colloquial language and anything even mildly provocative. They are sent by e-mail from the Obama headquarters in Chicago to reporters who have interviewed campaign officials under one major condition: the press office has veto power over what statements can be quoted and attributed by name. Most reporters, desperate to pick the brains of the president’s top strategists, grudgingly agree. After the interviews, they review their notes, check their tape recorders and send in the juiciest sound bites for review. The verdict from the campaign — an operation that prides itself on staying consistently on script — is often no, Barack Obama does not approve this message. The push and pull over what is on the record is one of journalism’s perennial battles. But those negotiations typically took place case by case, free from the red pens of press minders. Now, with a millisecond Twitter news cycle and an unforgiving, gaffe-obsessed media culture, politicians and their advisers are routinely demanding that reporters allow them final editing power over any published quotations.
benton.org/node/129501 | New York Times
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TELEVISION

TURNING POINT FOR ONLINE VIDEO
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Ross Fadner]
Increasingly, it looks like the television and online video industries are on a collision course, as broadcasters continue to battle with pay TV providers over carriage fees and online TV startups like Aereo make it easier for consumers to cut the cord and still get their content. Viacom’s dispute with DirecTV is not the only wrangle over carriage fees. Big media companies keep demanding higher fees from pay-TV operators, which in turn, feel they are being held hostage by the content owners. As a result, consumers end up paying higher monthly subscription fees for their pay-TV service. Many consumers are irate with this arrangement, because they only watch a handful of the hundreds of channels they are paying for. Meanwhile, Web-based services like Aereo are trying to benefit from this disconnect by offering fewer channels and cheaper monthly subscription fees.
benton.org/node/129395 | MediaPost
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PAY-TV/PROGRAMMER FIGHTS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Mike Snider]
Viacom TV series — such as Tosh.0, The Daily Show and even Dora the Explorer— aren't playing on DirecTV because the TV programmer and satellite TV service remain in a standoff over broadcast fees. Meanwhile, fans of the AMC TV series Breaking Bad won't be able to watch the debut of the show's fifth season Sunday night on Dish Network if AMC and the satellite TV service don't resolve their own fee skirmish that began July 1. To placate viewers, AMC is streaming the show live online at 10 p.m. ET at AMCTV.com. "We want to give Dish customers an extra week to switch providers so they can enjoy the rest of the season," the network said. Don't expect the relations to get rosier between programmers and pay-TV providers. Networks are looking for increased programming fees from cable, satellite and other pay-TV services to pay for shows and, of course, to boost their revenue. Meanwhile, pay-TV providers have to juggle increased programming fees and flattening growth in the number of pay-TV households. DirecTV, for example, spent about $9.8 billion on programming in 2011, up 12.6% over 2010. Passing programming costs directly to consumers could ignite a wave of subscriber "cord cutting" — dropping pay-TV services — and their turning to Internet video. So far, that hasn't happened in a big way. Pay-TV homes remain stable at 101 million, about 84% of TV homes, according to IHS Screen Digest. But "something has got to give," says Tom Adams, an analyst at the market research firm.
benton.org/node/129477 | USAToday
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MORE BLACKOUTS COMING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Channel blackouts such as the one that resulted from the recent spat between Viacom and DirecTV have become far more common over the past three years. Consumers can thank the changing dynamics of the entertainment industry. Media companies such as Viacom and Disney have become steadily more profitable since the gloom of the recession lifted in early 2010. But the cable and satellite providers that pay to carry their channels have seen profitability virtually stagnate as they fight each other for subscribers. The squeeze has prompted distributors such as Dish and DirecTV to revolt against higher programming costs. Consumers are left in the crossfire. The rising number of disputes is largely the result of the stagnant market for pay television. Simply put, there aren't many new households being formed in the sluggish economy, and those who want to pay for TV already do. Some 101 million American households subscribe to cable or satellite service. That's about 87% of homes, a proportion that has remained unchanged since 2009, according to Leichtman Research Group, which studies media and entertainment. TV distributors pay media companies a few cents per channel per subscriber each month. In turn, they try to sell packages of channels for more. As costs for those channels rise, so do monthly service bills, but not always by enough to offset the increasing fees cable and satellite providers are paying to media companies. In addition, distributors spend money on special promotions to woo subscribers from competitors. As a result, some companies' expenses are rising faster than revenue. That has prompted cable and satellite service providers to fight back against cost increases, even when it means blacking out channels until they can eke out a better deal.
benton.org/node/129475 | Associated Press
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OWNERSHIP

MSNBC TO BECOME NBCNEWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
On July 15, MSNBC.com did something that successful Web sites almost never do: it renamed itself. The site became NBCNews.com, signifying the end of a relationship between NBC and Microsoft that dates back to the earliest days of the commercial Web. Early next year, MSNBC.com will be reborn as a stand-alone site for the cable channel MSNBC, ending the brand confusion that has plagued the site in the past. With the changes, “we will fully own our digital businesses,” said Steve Capus, the president of NBC News. That’s because the company that controls NBC, Comcast, is acquiring Microsoft’s 50 percent stake in the joint venture that brought MSNBC to life in the mid-1990s — in effect, a big investment by Comcast in the news division’s future. Microsoft is receiving roughly $300 million for the stake, according to people with knowledge of the transaction who insisted on anonymity because the total price was not being made public. A portion of the total price comes from the joint venture’s past profits.
benton.org/node/129500 | New York Times
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TRIBUNE BANKRUPTCY PLAN
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Randall Chase]
The Tribune Company won court approval to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, more than four years after a leveraged buyout left the media company with unsustainable debt. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey overruled outstanding objections by various creditors to the plan, which leaves Tribune in the hands of a new ownership group led by hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management, JPMorgan Chase and Angelo, Gordon & Co., a firm that invests in troubled companies. Judge Carey said that once final revisions to the plan are made, he will confirm it. Carey's approval of Tribune's reorganization plan clears the way for the company to seek approval from the Federal Communications Commission for the transfer of broadcast licenses to the new owners. The process could take six months or longer. According to court papers, the value of Tribune's broadcast businesses is estimated at $2.85 billion. The estimated value of its publishing businesses is $623 million.
benton.org/node/129467 | Associated Press | LATimes | LATimes - FCC
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INVESTMENT

TELECOM INVESTMENT
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
AT&T and Verizon top a list of 25 major companies investing in the United States, according to a report released by the Progressive Policy Institute. The think tank named its top 25 "investment heroes" that are spending resources domestically. The list of non-financial companies also includes tech and telecom giants such as Intel, IBM, Comcast, Time Warner, Sprint, Google, and Apple. Tech companies like Apple have faced scrutiny over their outsourcing policies as domestic joblessness remains high. Other companies have cited their relative economic strength and contributions to the broader economy as reasons why lawmakers should be hesitant to impose new regulations on issues like privacy, cybersecurity, or antitrust. The PPI researchers analyzed and ranked the 2011 U.S. capital spending of non-financial U.S.-based companies. Some of the top companies, including AT&T, Verizon and the cable companies, have few if any operations overseas, the report notes.
benton.org/node/129400 | National Journal
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JOURNALISM

YOUTUBE AND THE NEWS
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR:]
What is the nature of news on YouTube? What types of events "go viral" and attract the most viewers? How does this agenda differ from that of the traditional news media? Do the most popular videos on YouTube tend to be videos produced by professional news organizations, by citizens or by political interest groups or governments? How long does people's attention seem to last? The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism examined 15 months' worth of the most popular news videos on the site (January 2011 to March 2012)[2]-some 260 different videos in all-by identifying and tracking the five most-viewed videos each week located in the "news & politics" channel of YouTube, analyzing the nature of the video, the topics that were viewed most often, who produced them and who posted them. The data reveal that a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic "dialogue" many observers predicted would become the new journalism online. Citizens are creating their own videos about news and posting them. They are also actively sharing news videos produced by journalism professionals. And news organizations are taking advantage of citizen content and incorporating it into their journalism. Consumers, in turn, seem to be embracing the interplay in what they watch and share, creating a new kind of television news. At the same time, clear ethical standards have not developed on how to attribute the video content moving through the synergistic sharing loop.
benton.org/node/129490 | Project for Excellence in Journalism
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TRIB NIXING JOURNATIC
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
The Chicago Tribune has suspended its use of local news provider Journatic after discovering plagiarized and fabricated material in one of its stories, an announcement that was quickly followed by the resignation of one of the news service's senior staffers. Journatic's head of editorial, Mike Fourcher, said on his blog that he had resigned because of disagreements with senior staff over "ethical and management issues." The issue has sparked discussion throughout the news industry, which is struggling to cut costs while still trying to serve local markets, sometimes by outsourcing specialized content.
benton.org/node/129469 | Associated Press
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

REINING IN WIRELESS SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Andy Greenberg]
Phone companies are the middlemen of modern surveillance. They collect communications and location information from users on an unprecedented scale. Then, when governments come calling, they turn it over with a greater frequency and volume than ever before in history. And to a large degree, they do it voluntarily. Here are five ways phone carriers could act now to rein in the mobile device surveillance explosion:
Store less data, and delete it earlier.
Share information about government requests with one another and determine the minimum standard of cooperation.
Publish annual reports about their compliance with surveillance.
Take a stand against legislation that hurts users’ privacy.
Fight gag orders, and tell individual users about requests for their information.
benton.org/node/129392 | Forbes
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SURVEILLANCE SUIT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
The American Civil Liberties Union will be in federal court July 17 as it seeks to force the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to detail how often they use surveillance tools that capture the email addresses contacted, phone numbers called and websites visited by a person. Such tools are known as pen register and trace-and-track technology, and while the government believes they're critical for law enforcement, privacy advocates are concerned about the lack of transparency on how often the searches are used. The ACLU says the Justice Department has failed to publicly report, as required annually by federal law, the use of such technology since 2009 and has previously failed to meet it reporting obligations. The ACLU filed the suit in Manhattan federal court to force the Justice Department to release data on searches in 2010 and in 2011 by the department's criminal division. Several other agencies also are targeted in the suit, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
benton.org/node/129494 | Wall Street Journal
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ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

APPLE BACTRACKS ON EPEAT
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Salvador Rodriguez]
After removing 39 of its computers from an environmental rating registry last month, Apple is now backtracking and has said it made a mistake. Apple said dropping its products from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool registry was a mistake, and the company also said it would be re-listing its products. The company announced the change in a letter published online directed at its consumers. "We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system," said Bob Mansfield, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering. "I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT."
benton.org/node/129478 | Los Angeles Times
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AGENDA

FCC AUGUST OPEN MEETING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Friday, August 3, 2012:
Cable Television Technical and Operational Requirements: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to modernize our cable television rules to facilitate the cable industry’s widespread transition from analog to digital transmission systems.
Removing Barriers to Wireless Backhaul: The Commission will consider a Second Report and Order, Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Second Notice of Inquiry, Order on Reconsideration, and Memorandum Opinion and Order that seeks to remove regulatory barriers to make better use of Fixed Service (FS) spectrum and provide additional flexibility to enable FS licensees to reduce operational costs and facilitate the use of wireless backhaul in rural areas.
benton.org/node/129464 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EU BROADBAND PUSH
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Frances Robinson]
The European Union's technology chief said she intends to set clear and lasting rules that will ensure financial returns on broadband infrastructure investment and so encourage the bloc's telecommunications companies to build high-speed fiber networks. Investment in high-speed fiber in the EU has lagged behind other parts of the world, and Commissioner Kroes has been investigating since October what it would take for companies to take the plunge and make the heavy upfront investment needed for fiber networks. Telecom companies have been reluctant to invest without knowing they can recoup the cost. "I want all industry players to receive the signal loud and clear—that they can invest profitably in the future connectivity of Europe, and compete on the basis of their investment," EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes told reporters. Kroes will present proposals on the matter to her fellow commissioners in the autumn. She said she would produce a package of guidelines to be implemented by national regulators that will apply at least until 2020, and which will focus on three areas. First, providing equivalent, nondiscriminatory access for all operators; second, a recommendation on wholesale access costs; and third, principles for when regulators can intervene.
benton.org/node/129407 | Wall Street Journal
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ITU TELECOM DRAFT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The International Telecommunications Union trumpeted their decision to release a draft document in advance of its upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications (WICT-12) conference in Dubai. ITU, an agency of the UN, pointed out that it had debated the issue of publicizing documents and had decided to publish the draft of the main conference "preparatory document," (TD-64) while pointing out that ITU members could share the other documents if they chose to. ITU will also create an online comment page for input on that document.
benton.org/node/129405 | Broadcasting&Cable
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MOBILE NETWORK WOES
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Last week, Orange France’s mobile network tanked, knocking out the mobile phones of millions of subscribers. This week the same thing happened to O2 in the U.K. The U.S. isn’t immune either. Just last week T-Mobile suffered from a smaller glitch, but the granddaddy of all network failures hit Verizon Wireless in December when its LTE network went down on three separate occasions in a single month. Why are networks suddenly conking out all over the world? It looks like global networks are developing a signaling problem – more specifically a signaling overload problem. Details are starting to emerge about just what caused the Orange and O2 outages. Computerworld UK and Information Age separately reported that the network element at fault in both cases was the home location register, or HLR. It’s not exactly the most commonly known piece of gear, but in brief the HLR acts as an anchor point to which we remain tethered as we move about the network. It stores our subscriber identities and knows what services we can access, but most importantly, it tracks each device’s present location so the network knows where to direct inbound and outbound traffic.
benton.org/node/129460 | GigaOm
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UNIVERSAL-EMI
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ben Sisario]
The endgame in the music industry’s most controversial deal will begin this week in Brussels. There, executives of the Universal Music Group will meet with members of the European Commission to discuss concessions to Universal’s $1.9 billion bid for EMI’s record labels. The deal, which would give Universal a global market share of about 40 percent, has been loudly criticized by rivals and consumer advocates, who worry that such concentration could hurt artists and fans. But for Universal and its parent company, the troubled French conglomerate Vivendi, a more immediate concern is that this week’s discussions will effectively set the value of the deal itself. To win approval, Universal is expected to sell pieces of EMI or its own catalogs. For media analysts, the critical question now is not just whether Universal will divest assets, but whether it will have to sell so many that the deal will no longer be attractive.
benton.org/node/129488 | New York Times
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CHAVEZ’S WAR
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Mary Anastasia O’Grady]
[Commentary] Suppose the country you live in is holding a presidential election and the incumbent is running for another term. Suppose further that the economy is in bad shape. The ranks of the unemployed and poor have swelled, the government is spendthrift, and the central bank is no longer independent. The president takes no responsibility. He blames everything on the rich. He says they are exploiting the working classes and don't pay their fair share in taxes. Fomenting class envy and resentment is his stock in trade. Now suppose there are is no independent media. Welcome to Venezuela. Think the country can hold a fair presidential election?
benton.org/node/129486 | Wall Street Journal
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